Flag of South Africa

South Africa

Overall confidence rating

81%

Cape Town, South Africa

Operators in South Africa report very high confidence in the country's deep talent pool for English-language service, a strong, cost-competitive commercial property market, a supportive industry ecosystem, and excellent tourism and leisure services. General optimism is balanced by concerns over the country's core infrastructure, particularly the reliability of the electricity grid and public transport. Apprehensions about law enforcement, securing work permits, and finding executive-level talent are also notable concerns.

SponsoredConfidence Profile South Africa 2025

Amplify5

Alastair Brass, Founder & CEO, Amplify5, South Africa, Offshore CX Confidence Index 2025: Man with short hair in a dark gray polo shirt, arms crossed, before a blurred city and sea
World-class delivery can come from anywhere in South Africa when you invest in people properly.
Alastair BrassFounder & CEOAmplify5
Amplify5 team in South Africa, Offshore CX Confidence Index 2025: About twenty employees hold certificates and thank-you cards in an office beside a blue banner

How do your clients view South Africa as a BPO/CX delivery destination?

Alastair Brass: Our clients regularly tell us that they value the combination of high-quality service and cost efficiency they find with our South African offering, often matching or even exceeding their in-house UK operations. What builds client confidence is how South African teams can function as true extensions of their brands. The ability to mirror internal systems and training creates what feels like a satellite office rather than a disconnected vendor relationship. You get scalability and flexibility without losing that connection to your brand and culture. There's also a strong focus on sustainability in the market. South African providers are creating real careers for local youth while delivering genuine value to their partners. We’re able to focus less on labor arbitrage and be proud of building something that benefits everyone involved.

Amplify5 team in South Africa, Offshore CX Confidence Index 2025: Six people smiling in an office, one holding a certificate, with a screen reading Congratulations behind

From an operational standpoint, what makes South Africa unique as a BPO and CX destination?

Alastair Brass: Education and cultural compatibility are strong. There's a highly skilled talent pool with fluent English, neutral accents, and good alignment with UK culture. Communication feels natural, which matters when you're handling customer interactions. There's also a strong emphasis on professional development in the market. Training programs and leadership pathways create opportunities for long-term careers, which means lower turnover and more experienced teams over time. Impact sourcing is becoming increasingly important too. South African providers are recruiting from underserved communities and creating real transformation. It brings fresh energy to operations and proves that world-class delivery can come from anywhere when you invest in people properly.

Amplify5 team in South Africa, Offshore CX Confidence Index 2025: About twenty employees raising glasses in a toast in a bright open office with green banners

What could South Africa stand to improve to maximize your confidence in the country’s BPO/CX future?

Alastair Brass: Our confidence in South Africa comes from its culturally aligned, skilled workforce that delivers quality service at competitive costs. You’re able to find a combination of agility, empathy, and professionalism here that resonates with global businesses. To take it further, though, the country needs to work on better enabling its large unemployed workforce. There are talented graduates coming out of higher education who struggle to find entry points into the job market. Creating more pathways to connect this pool of educated individuals to the CX/BPO industry would unlock significant potential. When you empower that skilled talent to succeed at their careers, you drive overall growth for the country and build something more sustainable and inclusive. At amplify5, we’re committed to inclusive growth and developing future capabilities for young South Africans, and we’re proud to be a part of South Africa’s rapid progression to becoming a top global CX powerhouse.

About Amplify5

Founded in 2021, amplify5 is a UK-headquartered offshoring provider operating from Cape Town, South Africa, with 1,100 employees, 1,400+ seats, and expansion plans targeting 7,000 employees across the country by 2028. Amplify5 serves SMEs and multinationals in retail, travel, utilities, financial services, e-commerce, telecoms, and healthcare across EMEA, ANZ, and the US. The company’s core offerings include omnichannel CX support, shared service support, knowledge process offshoring, and sales and retention, all delivered in English, French, and German.

Local labor market

South Africa's labor market elicits mixed feeling from operators. While respondents show very high confidence in recruiting for entry-level to supervisory roles, filling leadership roles is a concern. Plus, respondents are highly confident in their ability to recruit for all functions, particularly for English-language voice and non-voice customer care. Filling non-English roles and securing work visas are the biggest challenge for operators, and there's little trust in the public education system's ability to teach skills for a CX delivery environment.

2025

Confidence rating

84.1%

How confident are you in your capacity to recruit for the following positions in your country?

  • Agents100%
  • Team leads94%
  • Supervisors93%
  • Managers85%
  • Executives68%

How confident are you in your capacity to recruit for the following functions within your country?

  • Customer care99%
  • Technical support85%
  • Content moderation78%
  • Finance & accounting88%
  • Marketing & sales81%
  • Back-office admin95%
  • Voice100%
  • Non-voice93%

How confident are you in your capacity to recruit for the following languages within your country?*

  • English100%
  • French63%
  • Dutch59%
  • Portuguese55%
  • German50%
  • Arabic41%
  • Italian41%
  • Spanish41%

*Note: Language scores are for guidance only and not factored in to the overall confidence rating

  • Ease of sourcing work visas for non-citizens53%
  • Talent availability in Tier 2 communities80%
  • Talent availability in Tier 3 communities68%

How confident are you in the public education system's ability to teach the necessary skills for a career in an international CX delivery environment?

65%

How confident are you in the availability of domestic graduates to fill BPO/CX roles?

88%

How confident are you that the majority of domestic students will remain in your country after graduating?

84%

How confident are you in your public education system's ability to teach the following languages?*

  • English94%
  • Dutch40%
  • French40%
  • German38%
  • Arabic36%
  • Portuguese31%
  • Spanish31%
  • Italian29%

*Note: Language scores are for guidance only and not factored in to the overall confidence rating

Graduate retention is difficult as many move away for international opportunities. Plus, public education is not great at developing multilingual skills, limiting our chances to find European language speakers.

Industry ecosystem

South African operators consider the country's CX/BPO ecosystem to be one of its strengths, with high confidence in the support from investment promotion bodies and industry associations. The government's willingness to engage in dialogue and its lack of industry interference are also viewed positively. Confidence could be higher in the industry's overall unified vision, the quality of fiscal incentives, and legislation to favor the industry, but otherwise this is a strong category.

2025

Confidence rating

84%

How confident are you that your competitors present a professional, attractive image of your country to international clients and prospects?

89%

How confident are you that the country's CX and BPO players are unified and collaborate effectively to maximize the industry's success?

78%

How confident are you in the government's ability to engage in open dialogue with the BPO / CX industry?

86%
  • Quality of fiscal incentives78%
  • Favorable legislation for BPO/CX industry75%
  • Lack of government interference88%

How confident are you in the government bodies involved in investment promotion in theirability to lobby for favorable industry regulations?

88%

How confident are you in the national BPO / CX association or cluster's alignment with the industry's needs?

92%
  • Close alignment with industry needs89%
  • Soft-landing support for entrants81%
  • Long-term support for incumbents80%
Though I am confident in our industry ecosystem, the national investment agency and the government's fiscal incentives are not always aligned with us and offer limited support.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is an area of contrast in South Africa. On one hand, operators are highly confident in digital utilities like fiber and telephony services, and have no doubts about the quality of international airports, and tourism services. On the other hand, they report low confidence in the reliability of the power grid, a major red flag cited in comments. Confidence is also low in the quality of public transportation and public healthcare.

2025

Confidence rating

83.7%

How confident are you in the quality of the following utilities in your country?

  • Fiber internet89%
  • Roads & throughfare89%
  • Fixed phone lines85%
  • Mobile (voice)85%
  • Mobile (internet)84%
  • Power grid64%

How confident are you in the quality of the following services in your country?

  • Leisure activities96%
  • Hotels & accommodation95%
  • Food & restaurants95%
  • Airports90%
  • Healthcare69%
  • Public transport63%
Power outages are still frequent and there's been limited modernization and sustainability improvements to public transportation.

Commercial property

The commercial property market is one of South Africa's strengths, as viewed by operators. Respondents show very high confidence in the availability of leasing options, and high confidence that office space, warehouses, co-working spaces, and purchasing options are readily available and cost-competitive. A solid category for the country this year.

2025

Confidence rating

84.9%

How confident are you in the availability of commercial property options for BPO/CX operations in your country?

  • Office space89%
  • Warehouses85%
  • Plug and play74%
  • Co-working space86%
  • Leasing options96%
  • Purchasing options84%

How confident are you in the cost-competitiveness of leasing commercial property in your country?

85%

How confident are you in the cost-competitiveness of purchasing commercial property in your country?

84%

How confident are you in the ability to leverage non-metropolitan areas for commercial space in your country?

81%
Co-working options exist but are not at a point where they can scale efficiently for larger BPO operations.

Safety & Security

Safety and security is not a major concern for most operators, with high confidence in the safety of foreign business travelers and peaceful power transitions after elections. Yet, confidence is low in the trustworthiness and responsiveness of local law enforcement, and is borderline low regarding the safety of the local labor force's commute.

2025

Confidence rating

75%

How confident are you that foreign business travelers will be safe visiting your country?

86%

How confident are you that the local labor force is safe using public transportation for commuting?

72%

How confident are you that local law enforcement is trustworthy and helpful?

68%

How confident are you that local law enforcement will respond to criminal activity promptly and efficiently?

65%

How confident are you that your country will perform a peaceful transition of power after elections?

84%
The private security industry is massive here. In my opinion, that tells you everything you need to know about our trust in the local police.

Political Stability

While the South African government's foreign policy and the electoral process elicit moderately high confidence, most operators report low confidence regarding its ability to manage public utilities and finances. Perceptions of corruption are also an issue, with low confidence in the integrity of core government institutions, civil service, and law enforcement.

2025

Confidence rating

69.2%

How confident are you in the foreign policy orientation of your country's government?

75%

How confident are you in the fairness and competitiveness of your country's electoral process?

84%

How confident are you in the government's ability to manage publicly-owned utilities and services?

56%

How confident are you in the government's ability to manage the country's public finances?

60%

How confident are you that the following public services are free from corruption and/or outside influence?

  • Core government61%
  • Civil service63%
  • Central bank84%
  • Law enforcement59%
  • Judiciary81%
The government's overall management of foreign policy is satisfactory, but you need to be alert to a lack of law enforcement integrity here.

Economic Stability

Respondents show moderately high confidence in the South Africa's overall economic stability. Confidence in the manageability of tax rates is high, while operators report moderate confidence that inflation levels and the local currency will remain stable through 2026.

2025

Confidence rating

76.2%

  • Overall stability78%
  • Manageable inflation75%
  • Manageable tax rates81%
  • Stable currency71%
South Africa's healthy economy is rooted in balanced fiscal policies, robust institutions, and vibrant markets.

Annual Comparison

South Africa

Overall rating

202280.3%
202377.6%202480.6%
202581%

Local labor market

202280.6%
202381.4%202483.5%
202584.1%

Industry ecosystem

202286.1%
202381.2%202484.3%
202584%

Infrastructure

202285.3%
202383.6%202483.6%
202583.7%

Commercial property

202286.7%
202383.8%202483.3%
202584.9%

Safety & Security

202270.8%
202372.2%202474.3%
202575%

Political Stability

202272.9%
202367.7%202469.2%
202569.2%

Economic Stability

202272.3%
202358.2%202476.1%
202576.2%